Owen puts Blues in the fast Lane to derby success against the Dragons
OWEN Lane scored two tries in front of Wales head coach Warren Gatland to help Cardiff Blues claim a 23-15 victory over the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
Gatland, who was in attendance, names his Wales squad for the autumn series later this month and will have been impressed with what he saw from the uncapped speedster.
The Blues were favourites heading into this one after getting their season back on track with wins over Munster and the Cheetahs but they couldn’t impose themselves in the opening quarter.
With a lively crowd behind them, the Dragons raced into an early lead when Josh Lewis managed to force his way over despite the best efforts of Matthew Morgan in the 12th minute.
The conversion was missed but they were soon in again. A sizzling set-piece move saw Adam Warren steam through a gap between Willis Halaholo and Rey Lee-Lo.
He offloaded to Lewis and the flyhalf put winger Jared Rosser over for a walk-in. Jordan Williams’ conversion extended the lead to 12-0 on the 20-minute mark.
That sparked the visitors to life and they looked threatening for the first time shortly after when some sustained pressure lead to Halaholo racing through to try to regather Lloyd Williams’ grubber for a score, jostling with Warren.
TMO Sean Brickell voted in favour of the Dragons, but it wouldn’t deny the visitors for long.
From the scrum, Lane finished impressively as he carried three Dragons defenders including Ollie Griffiths and Ross Moriarty over with him after evading Lewis’ attempted tackle, grounding the ball before being bundled into touch.
It meant the score was 12-5 at the break, with the hosts taking in a deserved lead.
Anscombe kicked two penalties early in the second half and Williams hit back with one of his own for the Dragons before the visitors took the lead for the first time.
They kicked a penalty to the corner and then called a nine-man lineout that mauled its way over the line, with Kristian Dacey at the bottom of the pile to claim the try.
Shortly after, man of the match Anscombe claimed a high ball and launched a counter-attack, burning off Rhodri Williams and Lewis before Dafydd Howells tracked back to Owen Lane was the star of the show for the Blues make the tackle.
But the ball came to the near side and Lee-Lo got outside Aaron Jarvis to send Lane over for his second of the match, Anscombe’s conversion creating an eight-point gap with 15 minutes to go.
There were to be no more scores in the game and no bonus point for the Blues but it will be a pleasing result for John Mulvihill, who gets his first Welsh derby win at the first time of asking.